The nurse caught me taking this… “Are you taking a picture of yourself? — The new girl is taking pictures of herself!” hahaha 🙂

The hospital in the town I just moved to is great! I had a good feeling from the time I called the Infusion Room to make an appointment for fluids. At the hospital I went to in my old town, they made me feel like I was annoying them because I didn’t have regularly scheduled appointments. I really don’t know when I am going to need fluids. I wish I did, but I don’t! Sometimes I’ll know the evening before I need them, but usually I just wake up and realize if I don’t go get them, bad things are going to happen. So, I decided I had to give in and call and get an appointment for fluids. It was late morning, so I was expecting that I wouldn’t get an appointment until the following day. I was bracing myself for the annoyed nurse. Surprise! It was completely different when I called this hospital. The nurse said “Come on in whenever you can. We’re ready for you!” There was no sigh or edge to her voice about the short notice.

When I got there, the receptionist greeted me with a smile. She said, “They told me you were coming, let’s get you all set up here!” She directed me to the lab to get my blood drawn. When I came back, I was greeted with ANOTHER smile and was told to go on back. Then, guess what? I was greeted by a SMILING nurse. She looked like she actually was happy to be helping me. I understand nurses have incredibly stressful jobs, but every single time I went to get fluids at the other hospital, they seemed annoyed by my very existence. That’s unacceptable no matter how stressful your job is. I’ve worked in high stress jobs, and I never let it impact how I interacted with clients. It’s not the clients fault you’re stressed.

Anyways… The Infusion Room is one big room with a bunch of Lazy Boy type chairs. A few patients said hi to me as I came in. I met a woman who has Chronic Lyme Disease and I knew what it was thanks to some of you bloggers out there. She gave me information about a good doctor near here should I choose to look more into that. The nurse came over and started working on getting an IV in. The best spot to put an IV in me is kind of beat up, so she wanted to try a different vein. It looked like it’d be a really good one. I am told I have lots of valves, so my veins are never what they appear. She kept apologizing and saying she was torturing me. She only had to stick me twice which isn’t all that bad. I told her it was okay and I didn’t mind needles. She said, “Oh stop it, needles hurt. You don’t have to say it is okay — because it isn’t.” How sweet is that? These nurses have empathy for their patients and it made my experience of getting fluids completely different than what I had gotten used to. (Note: Not all of the nurses at the old hospital hated their job, just the ones that did ambulatory care) I could tell some of the patients were regulars, and there seemed to be really positive patient-nurse relationships. After she got the IV in, it got even better. She asked me if I wanted coffee, tea, soda, water… I declined as I was nauseous. Then she asked me if I wanted a warm blanket. I said “Yes please!!” I love warmed up blankets. They are the best thing about the hospital.

An hour later I was feeling like a new woman. Fluids really help so much when I am at rock bottom. I used to dread needing fluids. Not only was I sick enough to require an IV to get fluids, but I knew the hospital staff would make feel annoying for needing them. I dreaded calling. I never knew if they’d work to fit me in or not, even when I called a day in advance. They would literally sigh when I asked for an appointment. Maybe they had more patients than they could handle, but their frustration over that should not have been passed along to me. Good news… The nurse at my new hospital explained to me that if I need to come in, a few hours notice is best. However, if it is urgent, they will get me in right away. It made me so happy to hear that I no longer had to stress about stressing out the nurses. I no longer dread getting fluids for any reason except it means I am really sick. Thank you so much to the nurses at this hospital for treating me so well. Being chronically ill is terrible, but these nurses made this part of my illness a little less terrible.

I am so happy you found a place like that! Your description of the other hospital is much, much more typical! Sad but true! And it’s not just patients that get treated like that, by the way:) Healthcare is overburdened, and it unfortunately comes out in the attitudes. I can’t wait for the post one day where POTS has diminished its hold on you, but in the meantime, take good care! That hospital sounds awesome–what caring nurses and staff!

I ended up resorting to putting my own tube into my nose to my stomach for fluids (the ER was so ‘mean’). My regular MD was moderately horrified, but I’m an RN, and knew what to do (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME)…. but having the extra fluids makes such a difference, and having a viable blood pressure certainly helps. I’m glad you found a decent bunch of folks to help you 🙂

I do have to say the chairs are wonderful 🙂 They recline, heat and massage too! It was great to meet you and even though we have different illnesses, your blog has helped me a lot this past week. I think God put you in my life for a reason because my mind was going in circles. If you don’t mind can I share your blog link. I have a hard time writing how I feel and think that if my family and friends see it, they can better understand my situation. I don’t have much support. Little bit, but not much. Hoping this will shed light to the people in my life. Hope you have a good day 🙂

Hi Jackie. So pleased you have found such a lovely place to have your treatments. I had that before my hospital moved and it was wonderful. At the new hospital, everything looks so much better but I have had to battle to get appointments, even 3 weeks in advance and it’s been really horrible. I am in the process of trying to find another hospital. I have well and truly had enough!! I don’t know if you have read my posts about my treatment. I also found a wonderful post of a ladybug having a caffeine infusion, which looked just like me and I reposted that on my blog a day a post ago. You’ll need to click through but I love it and want to get the t-shirt and wear it to my treatments.

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